What can be done to adapt to global climate change?
Al Gore has his question up on the board that assumes we can reverse the effects of global climate change. I sincerely hope we can turn things around. But so much lifestyle change is required that I think climate change will overtake us before we can make an impact. So lets imagine that more coastal cities around the world get drowned by walls of water, and more inland places basically get parched. Add to that the possible global cooling if the gulf stream gets shut down by the increased rate of melting ice caps. Possible proposals for human adaptation: GM modified crops, more efficient transportation of needed supplies (and communication of where such support is needed), communal societies. ..
Global warming doesn’t simply mean that your back yard will get warmer. I came across an article in a TIME magazine from earlier this year how rapidly the arctic ice cap is receding. The question isn’t whether global warming is happening – if there’s any question, it’s whether we’re contributing to it or not. I’m sold on the answer that we are. I’m not sold that we can do something about it, but we should try. (Basically translate that as kicking the oil addiction – it’s giving us headaches besides the unquantifiable environmental impact)
There’s been a lot posted to this board that doesn’t answer my original question. A number of posts here have been trying to answer different questions (like ‘Is Global Warming real?’ and ‘How can we conserve energy’, and ‘What can we do to stop and reverse the effects of global climate change’.)
To restate the assumption behind my question – things are happening. Assume more things are going to happen. We aren’t going to like them. If we are to survive cities being flooded / turned into swamps, droughts etc, then we need to be prepared. I think focus would necessarily switch back to basics – simply obtaining food will become a day’s work!
And here’s the question in brief: How can we prepare for the changes and adapt to them when they happen? Can we retain some semblance of economy, government and infrastructure?
There is this lady on Yahoo Answers that is against using ethenol as an alternative fuel(read details)?
There is this lady on Yahoo Answers that is against using ethenol as an alternative fuel because she says producing a maximum yield of corn, without allowing the fields to go fallow, will ruin the soil for other crops. Corn is naturally hard on soil as it is, so constant production of corn in one place will drain all of the naturally occurring nutrients in the soil. How true is this?
Read MoreHow will global warming affect the climate in Mississippi?
What are the specific climate changes for the Southeast United States? This year crops were ruined by too much rain, will this continue? What is the longer range prediction?
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